


A Test of Wills

by ReclessAbandon



Category: Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Anon - Freeform, Betting, F/M, Fight Club - Freeform, Gamble, Gambling, Jakku, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Requested by anon, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Wounded, anon request, boon - Freeform, fic request, fic requested by anon, fight night, injured, request, requested by, scavengers, scrapper - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23279833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReclessAbandon/pseuds/ReclessAbandon
Summary: The Mantis crew makes a run for it and emergency-lands in an arid, barren planet in the middle of nowhere.
Relationships: Cal Kestis/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally requested by anon in Tumblr. This is a repost.

Something disturbs the peace within the Mantis as it cruised through the black blanket of space.

The alarm blared across the ship, the sound rattled through the ventilation shafts, and the ship itself quaked with great turbulence. Cal darted out of the cockpit and into the engine room, there was a plume of smoke coming out of the gap just beside the bed.

“What’s going on?” Greez asked from the pilot’s seat.

From the cockpit, a screen on the dashboard projected a blueprint drawing of the hyperdrive power cell, a red meter filled a part of the drawing, and your eyes pulled together with great caution. Your eyes flitted from one screen to another as you were confronted with a collage of red screens. Greez slapped your hand when you were reaching for one of the switches.

“The compressor’s heating up!” Cal answered from the engine room.

“That’s because we made a _second_ hyperspace jump with just 48 percent of charge,” you deduced. “No wonder the covered distance was so short!”

“Should we turn off the auxiliary power?” Cere suggested.

“That would make the ship live bait. This calls for an emergency landing, Captain,”

Greez swiveled his chair facing you, he put his lower pair of arms on his waist and sternly looked at you in the eye.

“An emergency landing? Could it be _that_ bad?”

“To be honest, Greez, I wouldn’t wait for it to come to that,”

These are one of the moments where Greez’s logic and unconditional love for the Mantis are at play in a mental battlefield. In his mind, his last-minute solution was to indeed cut off the auxiliary power so the blazing engine would stop—but it’s tricky to fix a ship off-planet, with bounty hunters on your tail and in droves, no less. You were right, it would make the Mantis easy prey.

Greez may be overly proud of his ship, but he knows when he is right and when he’s wrong. He swiveled his chair back to facing the steering wheel, his two pairs of arms throwing themselves around the dashboard computers and clutched onto the steering wheel in the end.

“Alright everyone, brace yourselves!” Greez announced and cranked the wheel as you entered the atmosphere of the nearest planet within the ship’s reach.

Everybody held tight on their seats—Cere on her seat in the cockpit, Merrin in the holotable couch, Cal and BD-1 have retreated out to the galley and braced themselves on the barstool, and finally you and the captain in your respective seats.

The ship blazed through the thin sheet of the planet’s atmosphere, the heat was slowly seeping through the interior as the Mantis descended, and Greez—with all the might of his four arms combined—fought with the steering wheel as he cranked it up.

When the surface seems to appear closer and closer, you felt your stomach go flat; in your periphery, you saw Greez flail his arms over the dashboard again, you know that he was preparing for the landing cycle, and prepare yourself for another “happy landing.”

The Mantis’s feet flung out of their hatches and the sand cushioned the landing. Every single person inside the ship caught their breath after holding it for too long once the ship touched the surface. You melted into your seat, raked the hairs that had fallen out of place, and allow the fact that you’re still alive sink in.

“What’s the…” Cere gasped. “Current diagnostics?”

The lights in your eyes were dancing, you had to lean forward to get a good look at the screens. You blinked countless times before you could read aloud the diagnostics.

“Power cells have drained…” you heaved. “There’s not enough fuel to travel at least nine parsecs.”

Cal peered through the windshield and saw a small settlement that seems to have taken attention to the ship.

“What planet are we in?” Cal asked.

You squinted your eyes looking at the screen where the planet’s name and coordinates are shown.

“Jakku,” you replied in a nearly surprised tone.

Not a single soul in the crew has ever heard of the planet. This was one of those collective first time situations. Everyone took a breather before marching out of the ship and blindly into another unheard of planet.

You left your seat in the cockpit and transferred to the holotable couch. Throwing yourself flat on the sofa, your limbs were numb and felt like jelly. Cal sat next to you, scooched in closer so that your head rests on his lap. His fingers softly scratched your hairline—the sleight of that sensation was enough to send goosebumps all over your skin—they glided across the length of your hair, he saw the soothed expression on your face, and so he did this a number of times.

“Your heartbeat’s _really_ fast,”

“My body should be getting used to the happy landings by now,” you clapped back.

The feeling was enough to lull you to sleep, you’re half-awake as you fiddled the straps and buckles on his armor, Cal leans closer to you and plants a kiss on your forehead and the anxiety that racked up inside you simply melted away.

While you lay there, questions and scenarios start rushing into your mind about this new planet. The questions start from worst to least bad. All the while, ideas branch out of your mind after each scenario you could think of.

“[y/n],”

“Hmm…?”

“Slow down with the thoughts,” he whispered.

The calm façade didn’t work through Cal, he can still feel the anxiety trembling within your nerves, he can feel the ideas dart through your brain, and the images were vivid enough for him to see what imaginary plan you ought to be conceiving in your mind.

“Sorry. I guess I’m taking precautions,”

“Hey, we’ll be okay,”

You looked at him in the eye when he let go of those words. Cal was someone you could trust—if any, he is a man of his word. His words have put you at ease, but not for long. A few hours after landing, everybody had regained their composure and then all gathered round in the galley to brainstorm.

All heads turned to the door as Greez enters the ship after taking a look at the damage.

“Well, she’s still beautiful on the outside, but on the inside?” Greez clenches his teeth and makes a subtle negative gesture with his lower pair of arms.

“I checked the engine room out in the back, overheated power cells” you added. “The hyperspace compressor is cooked, too. We need a replacement— _and a good one_.”

“Look there, in the distance. That looks like a settlement,” Merrin gestures with her head turning to the general direction of the said outpost. “Do you suppose they have the things we need?”

“If it’s an outpost, it’s bound to have anything. I don’t see any other buying options around here,” you answered.

“And what about the fuel? One of you mentioned something about fuel,”

Cal took a big sigh before answering to Cere, “We don’t have enough fuel to make a single hyperjump. It can bring us some distance, but I wager not less than nine parsecs.”

There was a silence amongst the crew, BD-1’s sad trilling concluded the exchange between the four of you. It’s about time the captain had his say about anything—considering that this is technically _his_ ship.

“So we need some fuel, a few emergency power cells, and a replacement compressor?”

“Seems about right. And our only hope is that outpost right out there,”

Just when Cere sensed that you and Cal have a plan in mind—which is obviously blindly setting foot into that outpost—she stopped you dead on your tracks, asked you to wait for her as she digs out a small satchel that contained a pouch of credits.

“Now, I don’t know how life works out there but even in a desolate place such as this, sometimes money talks.”

She takes your hand, places the pouch on your palm, and clasps your fingers around it. She gave another one to Cal. She confessed that it was the credits that she had saved when she was trying to survive, after breaking out of the fortress many years ago.

“Cere, are you sure to give _this_ to us?”

“I made my choice,” she firmly said.

There was no room for argument there. You exchanged nods and you retreated to your shared quarters with Cal.

“Which one would you wanna wear this time?” he asked while digging through his stash of collected ponchos.

“Something that matches my eyes,” you reply, a playful tone hanging in your words.

“Right, the pink one it is then,”

You nudged him with your knee while being cramped in that little space you two were sitting in.

“What? The pink _definitely_ brings out your eyes!”

Cal’s comment was received with a dead, passive stare from you. The only active reaction he got from you is a single raised eyebrow. He chuckled and temporarily ceased the horsing around for now. He repeated his question for seriousness’s sake this time.

“The Fjord one,”

He hands you the dark blue poncho and he suits up with the Free Kashyyyk poncho. As you dress yourself up and realign the collar of your poncho, you chuckle to yourself when you suddenly had a though. Even in the midst of a predicament such as this, you’re impressed with the fact that either of you still have the gall to crack some jokes and horse around.

Perhaps it might be the only thing that kept both of you going. It was a constant reminder that even in the bad times, you still have to look at the bright side—no matter how small the good thing may be. Cal taught you that—he just didn’t know it.


	2. Chapter 2

The door lowered itself to open and the planet presented itself to you. The Mantis has landed in the outskirts of the settlement—and perhaps in a safe distance away from that particular settlement in case the locals weren’t too friendly.

The trek roughly took an hour to travel by foot. Next thing you know, you and Cal were already standing by the arch that bore the place’s name.

Niima Outpost.

The sights and the sounds gave you an idea of what life in this place looks like.

Lightweight speeders and ferries come in droves, the drivers carrying out loads of parts—treating them just as carefully as actual smuggler’s bounty—and all of these junk traders gravitate towards the biggest tent resting in the center of the settlement.

It doesn’t take a genius that majority—if not all—of these people are scavengers. The real question is where they are finding their bounties.

“Get ‘yer own loot!” a Sullustan growled at Cal while he hauled a sled filled with scraps.

“Sorry, I was just looking,” Cal scoffed.

He turned to face front before speaking, “It’s almost like Bracca in here.”

“There a difference?”

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be any rain in here,”

There were a few ruffians here and there, a few benevolent dwellers sprinkled into the population—the ones who just go about their business and avoid trouble when they could—you place yourself in the latter category. Keeping your cowls low, you and Cal make your way towards the cluster of tents.

“Where do you think we can get the best parts?” Cal muttered within your earshot.

“I don’t know, but I guess we can keep looking,”

“Okay…”

The two of you fanned out, covering more ground and merchandise instead of sticking together. As you passed and stopped by the tents, the peddlers implored you to buy their scavenged parts. Cal, on the other hand, decided to get intel whilst window shopping. He stopped at one of the tents that sold a certain array of parts, he looked around until the merchant in charge of the booth arrives.

Much to his surprise, he meets the merchant—an Abednedo, the same species as Prauf.

“I used to scrap things like these before,” he said while studying what appears to be a central processing unit board, he looked the part of an interested buyer as he weighed it on his hands. “Where do you get them?”

“Most of these are the fruits of my labor. Some others here are ones I’ve traded with the bunch o’ riffraff that come here,”

“Oh, I see,”

There was a pause between the exchange. Suddenly, Cal’s memories caught him off-guard. He remembers the last thing that Prauf told him: to get out and see the galaxy. Well, now he’s doing it.

“Kiddo, hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he muttered. “Just remembered a friend.”

The Abednedo nodded and gestured over his wares, advertising some more to Cal.

“I wager you have some emergency power cells for the ship I’m in,”

“Well, that depends on what kind of ship you’re talking about,”

“An S-161 Stinger XL,”

Cal added the other parts that they needed—the hyperspace compressor as well as enough tanks of fuel that could cover the distance between Jakku and the Core World systems.

The merchant adjusts himself on his seat, thoroughly intrigued by the mention of the Mantis’s manufacture name, “Well now, that’s a fancy ship for a kid like you to be in—and here in this middle o’ nowhere planet too!”

“Do you have them?” Cal pressed.

Even with its small mouth, the Abednedo’s expression took a dramatic shift. Suddenly, his laidback demeanor became stiff and wary, his small eyes looked left and right, and then he leaned over his table so that his words would only be in Cal’s earshot.

“Listen, the stuff in your shopping list is something we vendors combined can’t cover—even if we take to the best trader that might come here,”

“So what can you suggest?”

“See that big tent over there?”

Cal looked over to his shoulder and saw the exact same tent that he and you first noticed when you set foot into this outpost. When he turned back to the merchant, he got a more elaborate explanation.

“That’s the best place you’re going to get your parts. They’ll accept Republic credits—if you have any on you—but getting them will be tough,”

“How so?”

“A blob with two legs—goes by Unkar Plutt—holds up an event of some kind every two weeks. You name it: auction, gamble—a game of Sabacc or Dejarik, whatever—and even fight club. I heard that there will be an event tomorrow,”

“Tomorrow,” Cal echoed. “Which of the three?”

“He didn’t say; or at least word hasn’t come out yet,”

Cal and the merchant exchanged nods. To throw off any suspicion, Cal bought the only mint power cell the Abednedo had. He also slid a single silver bar of Republic credit on the table for the intel. He leaves the tent and comes looking for you; he finds you studying a bunch of auxiliary power cells and compressors sold by an old vendor. Cal stops dead in his tracks, he looks at you from afar, and watches you converse with the peddler—you were sweetly smiling back at the vendor, even lending an ear to some stories that she felt compelled to tell you, and by the grace of your kindness, you stayed to listen before you could pay what you’ve taken.

The old and kindly lady-vendor gave a weak squeeze on your hand when she saw that you have given some excess in the payment—which you insisted she keep. Cal smiled to himself while keeping his eyes on you, still studying your hauls for today. He thinks that your endearing nature seems to persist even in an unforgiving setting such as this planet.

You look to your front and see Cal walking up to you with a smile.

“Why are you smiling?” you curiously asked.

He shakes his head but his smile stretched a few inches more, “Nothing. What’d you get there?”

“Something we might need in the future. This,” you hold up the part in your hand to show Cal, “Is a compact auxiliary power battery. It may be small but can power up a ship as big as the Mantis or perhaps a Corellian freighter.”

“You know your parts, huh?”

“I met a good scrapper,” you winked.

“Is he good-looking too?”

You pursed your lips, tipped your head sideways and shrugged, “Most likely.”

Cal lets you in on the intel that he’s gathered from the Abednedo merchant—everything that he’s learned from start to finish. You conclude that there shouldn’t be any harm in just checking it out.

Both of you marched towards the biggest tent in the center of the settlement. Brushing past a couple of dwellers who were in the middle of a brawl because one of them apparently cut in line. Seconds later, a group of uniformed individuals entered the scene and broke off the fight, they had weapons on them too, and the fact that they were pointing it at the brawlers’ faces were enough for them to stand down.

Neither of you maintained eye contact and didn’t look long at the scenario—you continued your unassuming trader charade.

“You Unkar Plutt?” Cal abruptly spoke to the squelching blob that had its back turned to the window.

The creature in charge was a huge gob of pink, moist flesh. A pair of small eyes between a wide nose and a small mouth filled with tiny but sharp, yellow teeth. Neither of you jumped at the sight of him; but mentally, both of you agreed that he was definitely ugly… and rancid.

Cal did the talking. After all, he is the scrapper between the two of you.

“So what if I am?” he grumbled.

“What’s tomorrow’s main event?”

Unkar didn’t seem to be impressed that a pair of new faces have caught wind about the events he holds for the best prizes in his stronghold. He planted his pudgy fist on the table and leaned closer to the grated window that separated him from Cal.

“I don’t think you can take what you’re getting yourself into,”

“Oh, trust me—I’ve had worse,”

The Blobfish—as most scavengers call him—chuckled sinisterly, unknowingly underestimating Cal.

“At dawn. You win; you name your boon. That’s all I could tell ya,”

“Do we get like a schedule or a sign-up list or whatever?”

“At dawn, boy. At my shipyard out there,” he snarled.

“Thanks. We’ll be in touch,”

You and Cal pace away from the window, he starts to whisper his ideas to your ear—but in your periphery, some of the thugs had their eye on you, even while you were still speaking with Unkar, you take Cal by the arm and exit the tent, away from prying eyes and ears.


	3. Chapter 3

You blended into the crowd of buyers and traders, walking through the small maze of tents as you exchange ideas. Looking through scraps and parts for sale as you speak.

Cal noticed that you were awfully quiet, speaking discreetly or with hidden contexts, your eyes dart back and forth to any shady guy that you spot within the premises. Even the uniformed peacekeepers didn’t put you to ease because you’re still a potential target to them—if you cause enough trouble.

“So our only option is to play rough,” you deduced.

Cal shrugged, “Perhaps that’s the only way they know how,”

“Hey, I don’t like it as much as you do but what other choice do we have?”

“You’re right. Haven’t seen anything passable to use for the Mantis,”

“What have you gotten so far?”

“Just a single power cell,”

Cal fished out his comlink and reported to Cere. He didn’t really prefer being the bearer of bad news, but he turns out to be one in certain circumstances—including this current one.

“Looks like we’ll be staying here for a while if we want to get out of here as soon as we can,”

“We managed to get some power cells, but just one each though,”

Cere sighed first, the unimpressed tone somehow made you tuck your neck between your shoulders—as if hearing your mother call your name after she found out what you’ve done. Still, you anticipated for an actual reply.

“I don’t know what you’re going to do next, but please, try not to do something reckless,” she pleaded.

“We really can’t promise that, Cere,” you replied with your teeth clenched, sarcastic yet genuinely uncertain—given the next best option that you have spells reckless all over it.

Your conversation was cut short until a female voice called out your name.

“[y/n]?”

Both you and Cal turned to the source of the voice, it simply came out of nowhere before a Togruta with apricot-colored skin appeared. Ecstatic was the best word for the expression on her face as she sees you. You examined her from head to toe: the length of her lekku dropped until her knees but she kept them tied together with a strip, the gold has tarnished from her headpiece, two cuts scarred her cheek and disturbed her face tattoo, and a necklace with a small red pendant resting above her breast.

“You recognize her?” Cal asks you in an almost-whisper.

You took one step closer to this Togruta who seems to know you.

“Rani?”

“[Y/N]!”

The Togruta’s smile stretched from ear to ear as soon as she hears you say her name. Your memory still serves. She comes running up to you for a hug.

“It’s so nice to see a familiar face here!” she beamed.

“What are you doing here?”

“Was about to ask you the same!”

You turn to Cal, “Cal, this is Rani—an old friend of mine. Rani, Cal—my boyfriend.”

“Hi there,” he extended his hand to Rani to which she gives a friendly shake.

“Hi, pleasure to meet you.”

Then she taps you on the stomach to get your attention, Rani throws off a teasing look on her face at you.

“What?”

“Didn’t take you to be the romantic type,” she joked.

You rolled your eyes, “Oh come on, Ra-Ra, you know I’m dateable. This shouldn’t come off as a surprise!”

The niceties and small talk had to end right then and there. Then Rani’s bubbly personality suddenly dissolved and she mirrored your wariness about this place. She beckoned you to follow her.

“I know a place away from that Blobfish’s eyes and ears. Your ship not too far away from here?”

“It’s in the outskirts, a bit far from this outpost,” you replied.

“That’s okay,”

The three of you hopped onto the landspeeder and she drove you to a small town. It took thirty minutes for you to get there. Indeed, the town was small—with only a few stone buildings in view, some of which appeared to be shabby but you bit your tongue to avoid offending any locals.

“Where are we, Rani?”

“Cratertown. You probably have noticed Unkar’s thugs got their eyes glued on you two lovebirds. Don’t worry, [y/n], they won’t get to us here,”

You followed her into one of the cottages. You’ve entered a small cantina—the tiniest you have ever been to so far—and the number of patrons was a modest dozen and a few more. Rani greeted the bartender and got a seat for the three of you at the corner of the cantina for privacy’s sake.

“How did you and [y/n] come to know each other?” Cal initiates the conversation.

Rani’s eyes widened in surprise before she answered.

“Ah! She hasn’t told you about me?” She turned her head to you and kept up with her bubbly tone. “Rude, [y/n]!”

You had no chance to react, Rani had already gone with the telling the story to Cal. She tells him that you met each other in Nar Shaddaa—two and a half years after the Jedi Purge—she didn’t realize you were a Jedi because you never exposed your powers or lightsaber at all. She only knew you as a ship mechanic.

“So then, what brought you here to Jakku?” she said before chugging her cup.

“Ship repairs. We lack the parts and fuel for it. It’s a luxury yacht with some overheated power cells and a cooked hyperspace compressor,”

“Do you know about Plutt’s little shindigs he makes every other night?”

Cal cuts in to answer, “Yeah, a vendor told me about it—but not in full detail. Even Plutt didn’t mention what kind of event he had in mind, he just said it’ll happen tomorrow night. The vendor just said that it’s our best chance to get the stuff we need.”

“Huh,” she scoffed. “You know one of those events is fight night. Illegal but he managed to bribe the constables to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear—because there’s a lot of cheering going on in there.”

“Fight night?”

You shift in your seat as Rani explained fight night to Cal—how it was a usual thing in Underworld and syndicate operations, Jakku doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to being one of its participants. Bad memories that you have repressed deep within yourself suddenly escaped the vault in your mind like some Pandora’s Box.

Rani’s chatter didn’t come through your ears, it was all just white noise. In the middle of her sentences, you could hear the sound of the crowd and the growls of your angered opponents, the flashing spotlights, and the ringing of a makeshift bell after every match.

“Man, you should’ve seen her _in the ring!_ She packs a mean punch,”

“[y/n] was a fighter?”

Cal’s surprised reaction warranted Rani to stop talking. Her excited smile that she had while retelling your past lifestyle instantaneously melted away. She cleared her throat and excused herself.

“Well, I guess I’ll just get another drink,”

She leaves the table and heads on to the bar, leaving you and Cal alone.

“You were a fighter?” he repeats.

He wasn’t angry at you that you didn’t tell him about this part of your life. You simply tell him that it was a part of your life that you weren’t the most proud of.

“I wanted to earn more credits, enough to send me out of Nar Shaddaa—it was a nightmare back there. I don’t think I have enough digits in my hands to add it to the list of the horrible places I’ve been to in my whole life.”

“How _did_ you get out of there?”

“I got rescued. Some rebel fighters that went on a raid, broke us out. Rani wasn’t lying when she said I was a mechanic, but it paid so little because not many were coming to the hub to get repairs. I’d like to think I was good, but not good enough. But in the ring, they keep telling me I was good…”

“Because you used the combat techniques taught to us when we were still Padawans,” Cal cuts in.

“The reason why I wasn’t proud of it—why I repressed memories of it within me. I was ashamed. I felt like I dishonored the Jedi Council—my master, too—because of where I used my skills,”

“You used them to survive, [y/n]; and survive, you did—that’s what matters,” Cal insisted.

“In a way I only know how that time. It’s where I got this scar too,”

You pulled down the collar of your shirt, revealing a scar that trailed from the left side of your neck to your collarbone and then ends at your shoulder. It came from a fight against a Devaronian, his claws were filed sharp enough to weaponize it.

“I was bleeding out, I still fought… but I almost died. But somehow, I still feel it in me after all these years. The memories may be locked away in the cracks of my mind, but I guess I can’t fight off my own fighting spirit.”

“I suppose not,”

“You’re not mad at me for not telling this sooner?”

“It was a bad experience, [y/n]. I understand that you needed some time before opening up. I guess that time is today,”

You did not speak, his arm slithered around your waist and secretly pulled you closer to him. He puts his arm on your shoulder and gazes at you tenderly.

“You and I have been through hard times before we got back together, [y/n]. That’s not hard for me to understand,”

“I know. Still, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,”

He mouthed “It’s okay” before planting a kiss on your head—his lips pressed hard on your temple for a long time before he pulled away.


	4. Chapter 4

Rani has offered you a place to stay the night still within Cratertown. She lived a few houses away from the cantina. She apologized in advance if it wasn’t a five-star suite, but you still expressed your gratitude towards her help.

“You really didn’t have to, Rani,”

“Oh tut, I’d never hesitate helping a friend!”

Rani prepared a room for you to share. She promised to take you back to Niima Outpost once you’re ready tomorrow. The room wasn’t much but it’s better than the open-ended tents in the outpost, she didn’t strongly recommend going back out to your ship in the middle of the night.

“That’s where the creepy crawlies come out of their hidey holes,”

She dismisses herself and leaves the two of you to your privacy. Cal seems to have settled himself on the bed. He noticed your uneasiness as you surveyed the room. He stood up, held you on both arms, and he looked straight into your eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Frankly, not really,”

“You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“Well, what choice do we have? It’s not like we can _steal_ away the parts. We’ve already had enough bounty hunters hot on our trail—let’s not add the blobfish to the list!”

Cal’s hands slid down to your hands and held them tight, you gave out a defeated sigh—realizing that there aren’t many options laid out to solve this predicament. The tremors in your body, albeit faint, were enough for Cal to sense. He holds you in his arms for a long time, before scooping your legs and tucking you in bed.

Today exhausted you to the bone—the heat and the bustle of the outpost seemed to have siphoned whatever remaining energy you had left. Meanwhile, Cal could not sleep a wink. He lies right beside you, watching your breast rise and fall with every breath, and the stillness of your person when you easily drifted off.

Cal was only able to sleep with one eye open, he made sure he was the first to wake before you and Rani. He saw that you were still sound asleep. The dawn was already arriving, the sun’s rays have already begun to peek through the clouds.

He leaned closer to you, kissed you in your sleep—feeling like it happened in a dream—and he whispered, almost sadly, “I’m sorry,”

He leaves your side in bed and buckles his armor on. The climbing claws still fit like a glove. When BD-1 spotted what he was doing, he put his finger to his lip and BD-1 never chirped back. Quietly rummaging through your satchel, he finds the pouch of credits that Cere had given you, and stuffed it into his own bag; he waited until Rani had her back turned, until he got the opportunity to sneak out of the cottage to the landspeeder.

Cal made quick work of starting the landspeeder and speeding away out of Cratertown and back to Niima Outpost.

You woke to the sound of Rani screaming, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN GONE!?”

Out of instinct, you jumped up from bed and find Cal absent in bed. You saw that your satchel has been ransacked and the credits were gone.

“Hey!” Rani stormed into the room, she spoke with her teeth clenched and with a fierceness that you haven’t seen in years. “Your boyfriend’s left—with _my_ landspeeder!” 

There was no time to waste, you swooped into your poncho, grabbed your bag and joined Rani on another speeder. Rani floored the landspeeder and you nearly sank into the leather interior of your seat.

“Do you think they’ve started?!” you screeched through the wind blasting through your face.

“I think they’re about to! Your boyfriend’s kind of a whirlwind, isn’t he?”

Cal arrived and has been in the outpost for a few minutes now, thanks to his headstart of sneaking out; he pays the entry fee to the thug guarding the entrance. He makes his way to the shipyard where large silhouettes remain under large tarps. The arena was nothing but another tent, except that it was better lit than the rest.

The ring was empty but the crowd was wild. Unkar waddled his way into the ring and his appearance pumped up his audience.

“Are you scumbags ready for fight night!?”

The crowd roared in unison. He immediately shut them up to lay out the rules as part of his program.

“Now, you know the rules—well, except if you’re new here,” he paused and let some of the people in the crowd laugh. “Anything goes for fight night. Weapons? Bare hands? I’m all for that. If you win, you name your boon. Whatever the price, whatever you want!”

Unkar introduces today’s fighter, a six-foot-eight Aqualish. The looming creature relished his popularity and adoration from the crowd as he circled the ring. Cal watched his apparent opponent and started thinking of strategies of how he’s going to topple him to the ground.

_ Anything goes. _ He thought. He closes his hand to a fist and feels the tightness of the climbing claws over his knuckles.

“Now, for the challenger—fresh meat from probably the other bad end of the galaxy—we got Cal Kestis. Says he’s a scrapper from Bracca. Let’s see if he survives _this_ scrap,” Unkar sniggered.

Cal entered the ring and received nothing but snarls of threat. He took it that the audience doesn’t take kindly on new faces. He faces the Aqualish and then project himself in a stance. The brawl began as soon as Unkar abruptly dropped his raised arm and a bell rang at his command.

Half of the audience had their money on the Aqualish—who, in a simpleton’s logic, would win due to its towering height and brute strength—whilst the other half somehow put their faith, albeit little of it, on young Cal Kestis, the unassuming scrapper from Bracca.

Just like the gladiatorial match in the Haxion Brood’s nest, Cal impressed the ringmaster and the audience. To his advantage against the Aqualish, Cal was nimble and light on his feet, making it easier for him to evade punches and land some himself—and they were bloody ones thanks to the climbing claws that poke into the opponent’s thick hide.

His luck soon ran out when the claws suddenly won’t budge out of the Aqualish’s hide. The four-eyed creature lowed as if he was laughing and struck Cal down with one heavy fist. The tables appear to have turned. The crowd goes ever so wild—apparently, the Aqualish was their champion, and the few supporters that Cal had have become turncoats, afraid to lose their betting money because of the losing side.

Now the opponent has taken the upper hand. He has suffered enough from Cal’s clawed punches, to the creature’s point of view, it was only a matter of time. The crowd that hugged the rim of the fighting ring wildly tapped, shook the ropes, and waved their fists in the air.

“Looks like the scrapper’s ‘boutta get scrapped!” Unkar laughed at his own joke.

You didn’t wait for Rani to put the landspeeder to a complete stop. You simply leaped out of the vehicle and ran towards Unkar’s open shipyard. The thug saw you coming and stopped you dead on your tracks, calmly telling you that you needed to pay the entry fee first. Unfortunately, your entry fee is with Cal.

“[y/n], wait up!” Rani cried out, running to catch up with you.

You looked into the thug’s eyes and kept your gaze steady but blank. You waved your hand across the guard’s face.

“My friend and I don’t need an entry fee,” you spoke in a commanding tone.

The thug’s demeanor didn’t change but you felt him loosen up in your presence.

“You and your friend don’t need an entry fee.”

You smiled to yourself, you couldn’t believe it actually worked; Rani saw you do it and she was surprised herself. But there was no time for more questions, you immediately dragged Rani into the shipyard with you and ran towards the tent where they’re having the fight night.

Upon storming into the fight tent, your eyes find the ring and you suddenly froze; aghast at the sight of a bloodied Cal being battered to death by the raggedy Aqualish.

“Oh sweet lords, he’s getting his ass handed to him!” Rani exclaimed.

You violently shouldered your way through the crowd until you got closer to the ring. Finally, you got a better view of Cal—his face was riddled with deep purple bruises, he was bleeding on the cheek, and blood was gushing out of his mouth.

“CAL!!!”

The bell rang when you said his name. The Aqualish stood victorious. He threw his arms up triumphantly, gaining the audience’s adoration. He paraded himself around the ring while Cal lay unconscious in the middle of the ring, bleeding all over the board.

You crawled into the ring and towards Cal. You ignored the blood pooling into your palms, your fingers trembled as they held on Cal’s cheek—careful not to touch the open wound where the trickling streak of blood is coming from.

“I’m here,” you weakly whispered, saying it over and over until you get the slightest response from him.

Your eyes search for Unkar Plutt, the Aqualish looked down on you and you received his degrading laughter. The seething rage was filling your bloodstreams, your willpower was trying to fight off the aggression and anger growing with you by the minute—the same aggression and anger that led you to the fight night lifestyle back in Nar Shaddaa.


	5. Chapter 5

You kissed Cal on the forehead and you called for Rani to take him out to the ring. The spectators gave way as you gently pushed Cal out of the ring and handed him over to Rani.

“Mind his head,” you stammered.

“I got him, I got him,” Rani said as she caught the wounded boy in her arms. She wrung his arm around her shoulders and supported his back with her other hand.

Rani then looked to seeing you in the ring _again_. She may have spoken highly of you back at the cantina, but tonight, immense concern outweighed her high regard for your prowess.

“What are you going to do, [y/n]?” her voice was shaky, she shuddered at the idea.

“What else?”

“[Y/N], NO!!”

Rani’s call fell to deaf ears. Her voice soon drowned in a sea of barbaric cheers and whoops. It was all that you could hear until the silence faded in.

“Let me take a shot on Four Eyes over there!” you roared.

“Well now, this is an interesting turn of events!”

The Aqualish chortled, underestimating your threat. He took pride in being a defending champion after taking down Cal.

Unkar chuckled, he repeated the rules for you—the same set of rules that he announced when it was Cal in the ring. In the midst of the excitement, you slipped on Cal’s climbing claws—you’ve swiped them off his hands when he was being taken away by Rani.

Your opponent began in the offense, brute strength gravitating to his fist; at the last second, you evaded it with lightning speed, followed by a kick to stagger him and the claws slashed on its exposed chunk for a neck the moment he turned to face you.

“Come on, you scummy lug!” you taunted.

“Go get ‘im, [y/n]!” Rani cheered from the crowd whilst still supporting an unconscious Cal.

He gurgled—possibly saying something to you in his native language—and then charged at you in a bear-hug position, you dodged it by a hair. You rolled over his back while he was still crouched and uppercut his side with the claw. You were suddenly a fan favorite. Each blow from you was repaid with a cheer from the crowd—and the hollering got louder and louder each time you overwhelm the opponent.

The thrill was nostalgic. Every sensation back in that fighting ring came rushing into you like an untamed river current. Your vision narrowed, your periphery was a shimmering blur. He was still on his toes, he still has some life left in him.

 _But not for long._ You thought.

The Aqualish’s hand was covered in blood, he dismissed it as a scratch. You’ve made him angry, though. You let him lunge at you, to which you dodge and then quickly follow up with a punch or a kick. He afforded a few punches on you but you didn’t allow yourself to falter and be overtaken by this creature.

The precise calculation of your moves was your advantage—mixing both Jedi arts and common hand-to-hand combat skills—compared to the opponent’s cantina brawl moves.

_Survive—in a way you know how!_

A part of you gave a little push until it came to shove. That wild current in your streams flowed again. Energy courses through you—unsure whether it was the Force or your raw willpower—and guided you to every dodge, kick, and punch.

Eventually, you’ve overwhelmed the Aqualish with the swiftness of your moves. He couldn’t keep up to your agile attacks. Every time he would turn to one side to hit you, you’ve already switched and dodged to the other.

There was a graceful viciousness about your form and fighting style. Your evasive maneuvers adopted the gracefulness of the Jedi combative arts, while your offensive attacks were that of a cantina brawler’s caliber.

“Come on! I thought you were a champion!?”

Aqualish gurgled again, the appendage where his mouth should be began to bleed, but he doesn’t seem to be backing down at any moment. The right side of your lip curled upward, shooting a smug face at him, taunting him. It was a common strategy: taunt the enemy until they’ve become reckless enough to lower or disregard their defenses. Surely, a few from the crowd have seen it coming—but perhaps they were too ignorant and blinded by the bloody glory of the ring.

Your opponent managed to throw a series of punches—that you either successfully blocked or dodged—and when his pattern finished, it was your turn to throw some of yours. Your target was his face and neck, with the climbing claws there was sure to be a lot of damage and a considerable amount of blood.

A punch, a jab, and then with a sweeping kick you’ve got your target to the floor.

“This! Is! For! Cal!” you said with each blow you landed.

The thought of ripping his face open was satisfying, but you weren’t that person anymore. You know you’ve won. And you know when to stop.

You pulled away from the Aqualish, cuts were all over his face and mouth appendage; the crowd was jeering at him—at least the ones that didn’t root for him—mockingly tapping the floor as if they were the referee doing the counting. One of Unkar’s thugs had that task. Ten counts later, the bell rang repeatedly—it was almost just as deafening as the crowd’s howls and whooping.

“Looks like scrapper girl is tonight’s star of the show!” Unkar announced.

The crowd showered you in cheers and applause. You did not bask in it, your eyes surveyed for the sight of Cal and Rani in the sea of spectators. Rani could see that your breathing was labored, you were exhausted, your knees could barely hold your weight but you fought it, it was only a matter of time for you to feel your body aching all over—but you couldn’t fall, not until you name your boon.

The applause finally died down. On the top of your lungs, with what little energy you have left in you, you declared your prize.

“Parts and fuel for my ship—that is my boon!”

Unkar Plutt ordered his men to pull out the unconscious Aqualish from the ring. Once the knocked out opponent was out of sight, the Blobfish entered the ring himself—he had to take a special set of small stairs and unlatch one end of the rope so he could enter without getting his body mass stuck between the clotheslines.

“What kind of parts?”

“Hyperspace compressor, power cells, and fifteen tanks of fuel for an S-161 Stinger XL,”

“And where did you manage to get yourself a luxury yacht, girlie?”

“And since when did you add “20 Questions” into your program flow?”

A low series of “ooh” rang amongst the crowd. Unkar was impressed with your bark _and_ your bite; he may not have feared you, but you somehow got his respect, as well as the crowd’s.

Without any pressing questions, Unkar ordered his thugs to gather the parts that you asked.

“I want them ready by tomorrow morning,” you demanded.

Exploiting this somewhat flawed system, you took advantage of the boon system in a way that will get you what you needed for less. A part of you felt heavy like an anchor. It was the lingering thought that you were responsible for what happened to Cal. Now, you’re uncertain if what you did was justice—but then again, what is justice in an unforgiving world such as this?


	6. Chapter 6

The spectators and contestants alike dispersed in the tent. You jumped out of the ring, rushing towards Cal and taking him by the other side as you helped Rani in supporting him.

“Careful,” you mutter under your breath.

The three of you hobbled out of the tent. You took the backseat of the landspeeder, resting Cal’s head on your lap as Rani drove back to her house in Cratertown.

The zooming of the landspeeder was the only sound in the darkness of the sand dunes. You clutched Cal’s hand, you were thinking of trying to Force heal him but you were short on Life Force yourself. Sobs cracked between your labored breaths as you uttered “I’m sorry” over and over to him.

You bring his hand to your cheek, feeling for the warmth that you still hoped to have remained in his body. Cal was beaten badly, but he was a fighter. He will pull through.

“Please, Rani,” you begged. “How much farther?”

“Not far now, [y/n],” she reassured.

Rani oversped and severed the actual travel time by ten minutes. The time bought was enough to prepare Cal for first-aid. Your arrival alerted Rani’s comrades.

“Come and help me get them out. They’re both wounded!” Rani barked.

She dismounted the speeder, her comrades assisted her in carrying Cal out of the vehicle. You quickly ran to his side and supported him by his side again until you got to your cottage. Carefully settling him down on the bed, Rani was quick to deliver you the things you needed as you unbuckled his armor and unzipped his jumpsuit top.

“[y/n], you’re hurt too, you need to get yourself patched up,”

“I’m fine…” you grumbled.

You fumbled as you reached for the materials. You wrung a soaked towel with shaky hands and wiped off the sweat and dried blood on Cal’s face—revealing open cuts and bruises. You dried his face with another towel and fished some Bacta strips from your belt pouch, patching up his wounds. His hands needed washing too, so you soak and then wrung the towel again to remove all the gunk that his knuckles have collected. The whites of his knuckles have purpled as well, the climbing claws have dug deep into his skin enough to make swollen indentions too.

“[y/n]…” Rani uttered in a pleading tone.

Your complete disregard for your own well-being bothered your friend. Rani found the right timing for her to barge in and break your concentration in patching up Cal.

“Listen, it’s not your fault,”

You jerked your head to Rani. The half of her face illuminated by the candles in the cottage, but even in the dimness of the room, her teal eyes had a pleading look in them—she has seen that look in your face, discovering that you haven’t yet outgrown your tendency to blame yourself when people do things on your behalf.

“I was supposed to be the one fighting, Rani,” you spoke in a hushed tone, continuing to fix Cal’s wounds while speaking to Rani. “I never told him to fight in my stead.”

“It was his choice,”

“A choice that led him to get hurt because of me!” you hissed.

Your outburst caused Rani to jump a bit, she saw a tear roll down your eye; yet she remained calm and understanding your situation. She watched how you carefully wiped away the blood and sweat off of Cal’s face and hands, putting those Bacta strips with a doctor-like precision, and the way you look at him.

BD-1 offered a stim for you to use on Cal. You calmed your trembling hands before pricking the needle into his skin. As the liquid exited the syringe, you wait for the Bacta to flow in his bloodstreams.

Your fingers raked away the drooping locks from his hairline. Sheets of light spilled through the cracks and holes of the cottage’s stone roof and then illuminated portions of his face and body.

“If he were awake, he wouldn’t have blamed you; rather, he would’ve told you get yourself patched up.”

You wiped away the tears in your eyes with your sleeve, continued applying the cool Bacta gel on Cal’s bruises and wiping the beads of sweat dotting his neck.

“I’ll fix myself later, once I’m finished with Cal,”

“Okay… I’ll fetch some more supplies for you,”

Rani promptly stood up and headed for the doorway. You stopped her dead in her tracks with an abrupt but firm “Wait.”

She turned around to face you, exhaustion etched in the contours of your cheeks and jaws, you slowly closed your eyes and gave a short bow.

“Thank you… for everything.”

Rani smiled back tenderly, “You’re welcome, my friend.”

You repaid the smile before she left. You turn back around to Cal.

“Rest well, my love,” you whisper in his ear before kissing his forehead.

The next morning, Cal woke up feeling sore all over. He discovers his hands covered in Bacta strips. BD-1 was the first thing he saw when he woke. Sitting up strained his body and just made the aches worse.

“Hey buddy,” he groaned. “Where… Where’s [y/n]?”

“Trill! Boo-woop!”

“She… she patched me up?”

BD-1 trilled in confirmation.

“Where is she now?”

“She’s back at Niima Outpost to gather her boon,” Rani bursts in.

“ _Her_ boon?”

“Yep. She won your fight that you fought for her. Crazy, I know. Are you two always like this?”

“Not all the time,” he shifts on the bed until his feet were on the ground.

He swerved as soon as he stood flat on his feet, his ankles were still weak from last night’s exhaustion and his shoulders weighed like sacks of Bantha bones.

“Whoa now, easy there, pal.”

“Take me to her,”

“You two hard-heads really _are_ made for each other,” Rani sighed, seeing that there was no way to convince him to stay until you get back. “Come on, I’ll rev up my speeder.”

Cal hobbled out of bed and into Rani’s speeder.


	7. Chapter 7

From your periphery, you hear the humming sound of Rani’s landspeeder—it was the only vehicle that made that particular noise. You saw that Rani had a passenger: it was Cal.

He was dismounting the vehicle when you came rushing towards him.

“Cal?”

“Hey, [y/n],”

You caught his arms, supported him as he was still in pain.

“You should’ve just waited for me, you know that?” You scoffed.

An awkward pause lingered, you didn’t know what to say or where to start.

“Rani told me everything. Thank you… for saving my life,”

“I’m sorry it got you into this mess— _my­_ mess,” you mumbled under your breath, ashamed.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. For what it’s worth, I should be the one apologizing. I just didn’t want you getting hurt again like in your past,”

You didn’t speak anymore, you caressed his cheek and beckoned him to follow you to the cart full of parts; the three of you approached Unkar’s errand boy and double-checked the parts you asked for. The errand boy hooked a tow cable onto the landspeeder’s winch, you tipped the helper, and sped out of the outpost.

Greez and Cere huffed out sighs of relief when they finally saw you and Cal come back to the ship—with the parts, no less. You even introduced Rani to the rest of the crew, Merrin especially had an endearing curiosity towards your friend. Rani helped you load in the parts into the Mantis and put it down in the engine room. She was impressed with the interior of the ship as she strode in carrying the parts in her arms.

“I guess this is where we part ways _again_ , Rani,” you said in a melancholic tone.

“Hey, I’ll see you on the other side of the galaxy—like we always do,”

“Thank you again for your help, my friend. We couldn’t have done it without you,”

Rani smiled back and clapped your shoulder, she turned to Cal, “Take care of her, will you?”

“Of course. But I think she’s pretty busy taking care of me,”

Rani heartily laughed at Cal’s response. You embraced your friend one last time before she left the Mantis.

The sound of her landspeeder receded into the distance; as for you, there was work to be done. You volunteered to crawl into the narrow gap of the engine while Cal hands over the parts you needed.

Cal found you awfully quiet while you worked. He sensed the guilt within you and the anger that you’ve imposed on yourself.

“You still mad at me for not waiting for you?”

No answer. Your hand poked out of the open and pointed to the wrench. You got impatient after three seconds until Cal willingly handed it over and followed up with another question.

“Still mad at me for sneaking out?”

You shake your head while you fitted the first power cell into the hatch. You asked for the next power cell but Cal didn’t hand it over; you tilt your head up and see him leaning against the thin bannister that separates the quarters from the engine hatch.

“Come on, Cal, give it to me,”

You hopelessly hopped up with your arm extending upward.

“Don’t make me come up there!”

“Or?” he cooed, waving the power cell in your face tauntingly.

“I’ll pull you by the legs and make you land on your ass so hard you’re gonna ache all over again,”

Cal didn’t seem to be intimidated by that threat, although the thought of aching all over again somehow scared him. He almost felt like an old man with the sore joints and limbs. You hopped again, but Cal easily dodged your grasp, the part is still within his clutches.

“Ah-ah-ah, come on, you weren’t even answering my questions!”

You sighed in defeat. Attempting to snatch the power cell from his hands would be too difficult—he literally has the high ground, while you’re inside the engine hatch of the ship.

“I’m not mad. Just upset. Upset that _you_ had to go into the ring when you shouldn’t be,”

“You weren’t exactly doing a good job in hiding your intentions,”

“But I never said anything!”

“Uh-huh, but your mind did. You tend to forget that your feelings and thoughts are as vocal as they can be, especially when you’re—what’s in a word?— _passionate_ about something.”

“Really, Cal?”

Your response was both a general reaction to both his child-like way of stalling you from work and his colorful choice of word. He gave up and then handed over the part, to which you gave a grateful smile—albeit having a mischievous hint in it—and continued on with your work.

The metal gave out loud clangs as you tried to fit together the parts like a jigsaw puzzle.

“What the—I don’t get it!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, this one power cell won’t budge in. I put it in the same way I did with the first one, though. Strange.”

Cal jumped into the engine hatch. You hugged the wall while Cal examined the power cell, he loosened the clamps and tried putting the power cell in a different side. Obviously, with the both of you there, the engine hatch was a tight squeeze.

“Here we go, you didn’t fully loosen the clamp on the bottom side—that’s why it won’t budge in,”

“Oh, my bad,”

“The calibration tube needs a bit of refitting too. Hand me the soldering iron, will you?”

“Sure,”

As you stand on the tip of your toes, half of your face barely pops out in the open but you can still see the tools lying about. You reached for the soldering iron and fall flat on your feet again. Just as when you were about to turn around, it almost came out of nowhere—in a split second, a bright spark nearly blinded you and the electricity crackling took you by surprise.

Cal suddenly trapped you with his hands stuck to the wall on both of your sides, shielding you from the wild crackling with the broad of his back, and his chest blocking your view from the blinding light.

“I hope you didn’t damage anything. I want neither of us to fight again!” you exclaimed.

“Sorry. Don’t worry,” Cal slowly pulled away and realized that there were only a few inches between the two of you. “It was just a circuit that kinda… hotwired.”

“Did it?”

“Come on, we can find another part if ever,” he tried to console you, the volume of his voice now hushed and secretive.

“It won’t be _that_ easy,”

“What’s so bad about that? I think I can handle myself pretty well,” he smirked confidently.

You chuckled in a scoffing manner and then rolled your eyes, “Yeah, and be like a scoundrel like the rest of them out there?”

“You don’t like a bad boy?”

You shrug, avoiding his gaze shifting between your eyes and your lips as he nestled your chin atop the knuckle of his thumb.

“Depends…”

“Oh, depends,” he echoed.

He slowly tilts your chin up to his level, your heart was racing—any moment now it could burst right out of your chest—and gets faster with every second that Cal closes in.

“Cal, not now—”

You were cut off by the brush of his lips against yours; the grip of your fingers around the soldering iron’s handle was loosening up. Cal’s one hand slithered down from the wall, tracing your curves downward until he secured your waist; he pulled you in, your hip brushed against his crotch, he wanted to make sure you could feel it. In the heat of the moment, you didn’t even realize your leg was rubbing up against his thigh, your flesh sank as his bare fingers groped you and the intensity of his lips rose.

It was unsure who between the two of you withdrew first. You pulled away, returning to your senses and catching your breath—all the while your heart is still pounding through your breast; there was the brief moment filled with gasps, while you tried to bring feeling back to your numbed fingers around the soldering iron.

“Well,” you cleared your throat. “I think I should get the hyperspace compressor fitted in the cockpit now.”

You slipped under the other arm that Cal still had planted to the wall. The side of your arm hid half of your face, there you smiled and pursed your lips in secretly as you climbed out of the engine hatch. Before leaving the engine room, you peek through the banister’s gaps.

“Oh and for the record, we’re good. See you at dinner!” You winked.

Cal listened to your footsteps until they faded out. He looked blankly at the floor and smiled to himself like a dork. He bit his lip, savoring what was left in that kiss before continuing to work.


End file.
